Littler Triumphs As Brighton Sees Two Nine-darters
6 March 2025
Luke Littler won night 5 of the Premier League in Brighton on an evening which saw two nine-dart finishes.
The 18-year-old declared his second night success of the year with a 6-3 win in the last over Nathan Aspinall.
Defending champion Littler hit 5 180s as he thrived once again, four days after whipping James Wade 11-2 to win the UK Open.
"I've constantly been confident in my own capability, but the way my darts are going at the minute, it's probably the finest I've ever played on a constant basis," Littler told Sky Sports.
World top Luke Humphries struck the very first Premier League nine-darter of 2025 in the quarter-finals however was beaten by Rob Cross, who went on to seal his own ideal leg against Aspinall before losing a decider.
The set both get a set of strong gold darts, worth an approximated ₤ 30,000 each, from league sponsors BetMGM.
Littler's victory sees him cut the space on league leader Humphries to 2 points from 7, with the pair meeting in Nottingham next week.
In a rematch of January's world last, where Littler become darts' youngest champ, he triumphed once again in Brighton with a 6-2 triumph over Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals.
The Dutchman, a seven-time Premier League champ, has yet to make a final in this year's competition.
All the action as it happened in Brighton
Humphries beats Littler to win Exeter last
27 February 2025
Humphries beaten despite nine-dart finish
Humphries hit the perfect leg with 2 180s before a 141 checkout to go 2-0 ahead against Cross.
But the 30-year-old, who was seeking his third nightly win of the project, ended up losing 6-4 to his fellow Englishman.
It was the 17th best leg in the Premier League considering that its inception in 2005.
But 2018 world champion Cross struck seven 180s of his own and averaged 111.19 as he got the victory.
Littler was far from his best in his opener versus Chris Dobey, where he routed 5-4 before levelling and clinching the decider with a 110 surface.
Gerwyn Price paid the price for missing out on doubles as he went down 6-3 to Van Gerwen, while Stephen Bunting remains without a point after a fifth successive defeat, beaten 6-2 by Aspinall, who averaged 106.
Sky repeatedly apologised to audiences after their TV images eliminated at various stages during the early part of the evening.
Premier League Darts Night 5 results
Luke Littler 6-3 Nathan Aspinall
Michael van Gerwen 2-6 Luke Littler
Rob Cross 5-6 Nathan Aspinall
Gerwyn Price 3-6 Michael van Gerwen
Luke Littler 6-5 Chris Dobey
Rob Cross 6-4 Luke Humphries
Stephen Bunting 2-6 Nathan Aspinall
Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.
Each of the eight gamers is guaranteed to deal with the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks 1-7 and 9-15, with the weeks 8 and 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get 4th v 5th in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.
Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an extra point if they win their semi-final and 5 for winning the night.
The leading four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London's O2 Arena on 23 May, with very first facing 4th and second against 3rd in a best-of-19-leg match. The last, which is the very best of 21 legs, follows.
Premier League Darts Night 6 order of play
Nottingham, 13 March, 19:00 GMT
Luke Humphries v Luke Littler
v Chris Dobey
Stephen Bunting v Gerwyn Price